Federal government agency launches online platform for submitting reports on cybersecurity incidents, aimed at improving transparency and swift action in response to digital attacks.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has introduced a new initiative to simplify the process of reporting cybersecurity incidents - the CISA Services Portal. This portal aims to provide a centralized, user-friendly interface that facilitates efficient submission, tracking, and management of cybersecurity incidents across organizations.
The portal is designed to enhance collaboration by enabling organizations to share timely, actionable information securely with CISA and other stakeholders, promoting collective situational awareness and coordinated responses.
One of the key features of the portal is a simplified reporting workflow. It incorporates pre-filled templates and a step-by-step process that reduces the complexity of reporting incidents. For instance, tools inspired by similar approaches, like Cydome’s platform, demonstrate how forms can be auto-filled with relevant data and routed through an organization’s internal escalation path (IT to CISO to senior management) before formal submission to regulators, ensuring accuracy and completeness with minimal user effort.
Another important aspect is automated and standardized data collection. The portal provides standardized forms that align with federal requirements and automatically captures key data (timestamps, evidence, affected systems), ensuring reports meet regulatory standards while facilitating quick incident documentation.
Hosting reporting on a secure portal allows organizations to maintain audit trails and confidentiality, while securely sharing relevant data with CISA and trusted partners, reducing friction in communication. The portal also enables organizations to receive feedback, alerts, and guidance from CISA based on aggregated incident data, helping all participants improve cyber hygiene and threat response collectively.
The portal is designed to accommodate entities ranging from those with dedicated cybersecurity teams to smaller organizations with limited resources, ensuring broad adoption and consistent reporting standards.
Katell Thielemann, a distinguished VP analyst at Gartner, expressed concerns about the growing redundancy of cyber disclosure requirements. However, she acknowledged that the CISA Services Portal is a step in the right direction, albeit a minor part of a much more complex topic, which includes establishing the right incentives for voluntary cyber incident reporting and harmonizing the mandates currently multiplying.
Mickelson, cyber claims practice leader at Gallagher Bassett, stated that voluntary reporting of cyber incidents can directly benefit targets of malicious activity. CISA has specified that incident reports submitted through the portal should include details such as when an incident was discovered, the tactics, techniques, and procedures of the attacker, how the attack or breach was discovered, the exploited vulnerabilities, technical indicators and artifacts of compromise, and any malware samples or suspicious files that can be uploaded.
The CISA services portal is a secure platform that provides enhanced functionality and collaboration features, including the ability to save and update incident reports, share submitted reports with colleagues or clients, search for reports, and have informal discussions with CISA through the portal.
The Sunburst attacks against SolarWinds in 2020 and the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack in 2021 have prompted federal authorities to push for private sector collaboration, as companies' reluctance to share threat information makes it more difficult to prepare other organizations that remain vulnerable. The CISA Services Portal is a significant step towards addressing this issue, fostering faster threat detection, deeper insight sharing, and coordinated mitigation efforts.
References: [1] Cydome, (2021). Cydome Automated Cyber Threat Reporting [2] Gallagher Bassett, (2021). Cyber Claims Practice [3] Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, (2021). CISA Services Portal
- The CISA Services Portal, a new initiative, aims to improve cybersecurity by simplifying the reporting of incidents, providing a centralized, user-friendly interface for organizations to share timely, actionable information with CISA and other stakeholders.
- One of its key features is a simplified reporting workflow that reduces the complexity of reporting incidents by using pre-filled templates and a step-by-step process, even auto-filling forms with relevant data and routing them through an organization's internal escalation path.
- The portal also offers automated and standardized data collection, providing standardized forms that align with federal requirements and automatically capturing key data, ensuring reports meet regulatory standards while facilitating quick incident documentation.
- The portal enhances collaboration by allowing organizations to maintain audit trails, share relevant data securely with CISA and trusted partners, and receive feedback, alerts, and guidance based on aggregated incident data, helping all participants improve cyber hygiene and response collectively.
- The CISA Services Portal is designed to accommodate entities of all sizes, ensuring broad adoption and consistent reporting standards in threat intelligence, phishing, malware, ransomware, data breach, and other cybersecurity incidents.
- The portal is part of a larger effort to address the issue of private sector reluctance to share threat information, fostering faster threat detection, deeper insight sharing, and coordinated mitigation efforts in data-and-cloud-computing, technology, general-news, crime-and-justice, and regulatory environments.
